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Mayo Clinic Identifies SCAD As Inherited Condition

Thought you all might find this new research interesting! A recent study from Mayo Clinic published in the March issue of JAMA Internal Medicine shows evidence of a familial association in spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) that strikes younger women along a genetic predisposition do develop the condition. According to researchers, this is the first project identifying SCAD as an inherited condition.

SCAD is spontaneous dissection of the coronary arteries. The aorta is the large artery from your abdomen to the arch supplying oxygenated blood to the heart, so a dissection in an aortic dissection is specific to that large vessel and can occur anywhere from the abdomen to that arch. The coronary arteries are the arteries supplying the heart muscle from the aorta. This diagram may help: http://www.texasheart.org/HIC/Anatomy/coroanat.cfm A dissection happens when a layer of the arterial wall separates or tears from the others. That can happen both in the aorta and the coronary… actually any artery can dissect. I think Mayo does a better job at explaining than me. Here is a link: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/spontaneous-coronary-artery-dissection/home/ovc-20243650

I wonder how many people doctors are going to just right off as SCAD don’t look into it any further for things Marfan syndrome . I had doctor never look any further until went to mayo found my dissection and other issues were from Marfan’s

@jimmorris900 Patients know there body best and we can’t be afraid to advocate for ourselves. Although that is easier said than done when you don’t feel good. We still have a long way to go in bringing awareness to vascular disease, especially SCAD, Marfans and FMD. Vascular Medicine is a rather new speciality compared to other medical specialties so I am hoping that as the specialty grows so will awareness. I am grateful for the amazing cardiology team at Mayo, they have really put SCAD on the radar (thanks to the urging of some awesome SCAD patients).